In previous well-known glass enamel systems decorating material consisted essentially of 1 to 2 micron particle size vitrifiable compositions or glazes, i. e. ceramic colors, suspended in a medium which represented 15 to 25 percent by weight of the total decorating material. This material was applied to glass which was then heated to 550.degree. to 650.degree. C. to remove the medium and to fuse the vitrifiable compositions to the glass giving a glossy, chemically resistant decoration.
The development of the disposable or so-called nonreturnable bottle, used for merchandising soft drinks and malt-based beverages, has stimulated the development of a resin coating system designed to protect the bottle from abrasion and to reduce shattering of glass in the case of bottle breakage. The resin is preferably applied to a bottle by heating the bottle to 320.degree. to 330.degree. F. (160.degree. to 166.degree. C.), applying a finely divided ionomer resin powder by an electrostatic method and curing the resin at 420.degree. to 440.degree. F. (216.degree. to 227.degree. C.). For such disposable bottles fused decorations are a needless expense. Therefore, a new decorating material for glass is now desired which is capable of giving a multicolor decoration acceptable in appearance, which will not react with or permeate the resin coating, which will not smear if the cured resin coating slips across the decorated glass surface and which withstands the heating cycles of the resin cure and subsequent bottle sterilization with no loss of decoration color or detail.
New decorating systems have been tried with mediums based on fatty alcohols, fatty acids, polyolefins or polyethylene glycols, the significant feature in each case being that the components of each medium are mutually compatible. The glycol-based decorating materials appeared to be the best of the systems but still only fair in that they had such disadvantages as turning yellow during the resin cure, separating slightly during any heat treatment, tending to absorb moisture under some conditions, and making the cured resin sticky rather than hard and dry.
Patent references of interest with regard to such mediums and decorating systems are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,617,740; 2,823,138; 3,582,384; and 3,808,019.
The principal object of this invention is to provide a new medium for a new decorating material for glass surfaces having the above described characteristics without the described disadvantages.